


How Are You?

by ValkyrieRaisingCain



Category: Skulduggery Pleasant - Derek Landy
Genre: Drabble, I don't write fics often, I'm sorry it's been a while, sort of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-01
Updated: 2015-06-01
Packaged: 2018-04-02 07:03:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 638
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4050706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ValkyrieRaisingCain/pseuds/ValkyrieRaisingCain
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Valkyrie comes back after her time away from Ireland.  She decides to get in touch with Tanith again once she returns, hoping to catch up.  She imagines how it will go, but it never goes as you think...does it?</p>
            </blockquote>





	How Are You?

Valkyrie walked into the diner, assaulted by the smell of grease and coffee. She winced at the harsh clang of the bell tied to the door as it closed behind her. A few patrons sitting near the door glanced up at her, but barely gave her any thought. 

She shouldn’t feel this nervous. It’s only Tanith. One of her best friends—or she still thought of Tanith as such. It had been years since she’d last seen her. She got letters, emails, voicemails, but she never could find the courage to answer them. Or open them, most of the time. The messages had become scarce after the first year and a half, too. Maybe Tanith had finally decided to give up on her. It didn’t seem like Tanith to, but it was understandable that she was tired of the lack of response from Valkyrie. 

She searched the booths for a head of blonde hair. Near the back of the diner, she found what she was looking for. She tried to smile, only to be overcome by another wave of nerves. She felt the same when seeing Skulduggery, and her family. She shouldn’t feel surprised by the feeling anymore. 

Valkyrie walked over to the booth and slid into the seat across from the blonde. Tanith raised her head from the table, flashing her a smile.

“Hey Val. Seems like forever since I saw you,” she said.

“It has been forever,” Valkyrie replied. “Had a late night?” Tanith’s usually carefully mussed hair seemed a tad on the rumpled side, and she had dark circles rimming her eyes. 

Tanith nodded. “Nothing new. It’s been harder to sleep for a while.”

Valkyrie knew what she meant. She had nightmares. She had paranoid nights where she believed Darquesse was still there, waiting to come back and push her down and away again. Dreams about Alice when she…

She shook her head. There wasn’t time to delve into all that now. Tanith was who she was here to focus on. 

She watched Tanith flagged down a waitress for coffee. Soon enough, they both had a steaming mug in front of them. As she stirred in her cream and sugar, Valkyrie asked the question she’d been wanting to know. “How are you?”

Tanith shrugged and stared down at the table. “Surviving. The same as you, I guess,” she murmured.

They lapsed into a silence. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. They were supposed to laugh and talk like old times. Call each other names, tease one another. Too much had changed. Valkyrie left. Tanith barely had closer, or understood what happened to herself. Valkyrie shouldn’t have thought they’d be the same.

“Do you ever miss him? Ghastly, I mean?” Tanith asked suddenly. “Any of them?”

Valkyrie smiled softly. “I think about them constantly. I miss everyone we lost. And you know Ghastly never gave up on trying to get you back. A lot of others lost hope…”

“I know,” Tanith whispered. “I just wish I’d had a chance to say good bye. Or talk to him again. Any of them.” Tanith glanced at the clock on the wall and pushed her mug away. “I’ve gotta get going. It was great to see you, Val. I’ll see you ‘round.”

Valkyrie was able to hold her smile in place as Tanith passed her. She squeezed Valkyrie’s shoulder on her way out. After she heard the bell clang, her smile dropped, her stomach too. This was not how she expected it to go at all. Meeting with her family proved to be more normal, less awkward than this, even. 

She looked out the window. She caught sight of a motorcycle pulling away from the diner, engine roaring. She clutched her mug closer, not ready to go find Skulduggery again.  
Everything changed. Neither for better or worse.

**Author's Note:**

> So...I haven't written any fanfics in probably over a year and a half. I write all the time, just I never feel I can portray characters that aren't my own correctly so I never do it. I guess I decided to try it out again, just for the sake of it, and since I had an idea for a fic. Terrible ending though I apologize for that and any errors.


End file.
